The present embodiments may relate to a medical device, a component for a medical device and a method of identifying a component attached to a medical device.
In medical technology, interchangeable and/or replaceable components are used in various devices in order to guarantee an adjustment for an examination or treatment to be performed. The various devices may include, for example, recording disks or detectors for x-ray images, for which different formats are conventional depending on the recording to be performed. However, replaceable components are also used for an adjustment of the medical device to match patient characteristics for example, in mammography.
When a mammogram is performed, a compression plate is generally provided for the compression of a female breast. A rigid, inflexible compression plate is used to compress the female breast for mammography. Compression plates of this kind are frequently made of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA).
Compression of the breast during mammography reduces the thickness of the breast tissue to be x-rayed, which may reduce scattered radiation. Additionally, the breast is distanced from the thorax for the examination, such that an examination can be performed close to the surface of the breast.
The compression of the breast is achieved by the compression device, including the rigid compression plate, being displaced relative to a support couch (table) on which the object to be examined and/or compressed is positioned. The compression of the breast and/or of the object by a rigid compression plate, for example, during a mammogram, generally does not lead to the anatomy of the female breast, which varies from patient to patient, being taken into consideration flexibly. Accordingly, the compression of the breast by a rigid compression plate generally leads to pain being caused in the patient's breast. Damage to an object to be compressed is also conceivable.
An optimally adjusted compression plate for each specific patient may be selected and made available from among a large number of different-shaped rigid compression plates that are adjusted to match different sizes and shapes of female breasts.
The mammogram used in mammography is detected automatically. The detection can be used to verify the attached compression plate and for adjustment of the configuration of the mammography device according to the characteristics of the plate. Accordingly, different compression plates are conventionally encoded with contact bridges or storage elements, with the encoding being readable via contact pins.